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The Gift of Inadequacy: Why Growing in God Often Feels Like Growing Smaller

Recently we’ve been reflecting on over a decade of ministry on the mission field. You might expect us to feel like experts. You’d think that after ten years of navigating a foreign culture, seeing undeniable fruit, and enduring the highs and lows of missions, we’d have arrived at a place of polished confidence.

The reality is quite the opposite. We often live with a persistent sense of imposter syndrome.

Despite the years and the evidence of God’s work, we feel like we know less now than when we started. We find ourselves in roles where we feel totally out of our element, pinching ourselves to make sure this is real life, wondering if we’re the right people for the task.

If you feel lost, uncertain, or desperately under-equipped for the life God has called you to, we want to offer you a surprising bit of encouragement: This is exactly where you are supposed to be.

The Credentials of a Child

In Luke 18, Jesus makes a statement that challenges our traditional ideas of growth.

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."

We often mistake childlike faith for simple or naive faith. But a closer look at what Jesus is pointing to reveals: A child has no resume to offer. They have no expert status to protect. They don't have it all figured out, and they know it. Most importantly, a child believes what their Father says simply because He is the Father.

When we first enter the Kingdom, we enter unequipped for the work ahead. We expect that as we mature, we will eventually reach a point where we don't need to ask so many questions, where we can finally rely on our own experience. But God’s version of growing up looks a lot like growing down. He takes us through valleys and hardships not to make us more self-sufficient, but to teach us that He alone is faithful, trustworthy, and in control.

The Moses Realization: "Who Am I?"

In our own walk, the more tasks He gives us that feel too big, the more we relate to the people God consistently chose throughout scripture who knew they could not accomplish His will on their own. For example, when God called Moses to lead a nation, Moses didn't respond with a list of qualifications. He asked: “Who am I that I should go?” (Exodus 3:11). 

It’s this realization—that we are unworthy, that we have nothing special to give, and that we are desperately inadequate, that is the prerequisite for hearing God’s promise that we regularly need reminding of: “I will be with you.”

The Apostle Paul, a man of great intellect and religious credentials, came to the same conclusion. He spoke openly of coming in weakness, fear, and trembling, and not relying on eloquence or human wisdom, but on the power of God. In Philippians 3, he lists his impressive background only to call it "rubbish" compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. He resolved, as he wrote to the Corinthians, to know nothing except "Jesus Christ and Him crucified." 

Paul wasn't trying to fake humbleness. He was acknowledging a spiritual reality: our faith cannot come from human wisdom or our own competence, but only from Christ Jesus.

How God Uses Our Weakness

It feels counterintuitive, but there is purpose in God bringing us through situations where we must rely on Him. 

What are some of His purposes?

• Purification: It confronts us with our sins, deceptions, and self-dependence.

• Strengthening Faith: It reminds us that He is the Lord, and in control.

• Dealing with Pride: It prevents us from boasting in our own wisdom or influence.

• Proper Positioning: It keeps Him as God and us as His children.

Just when we think we’ve reached a milestone of expertise, God seems to pivot us. He leads us into a new territory or a blank slate where we become beginners all over again. He does this because He is more interested in our dependence than our diplomas.

A Note to the Weary

If you feel weak, unready, or unworthy, take heart. Scripture tells us “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10). 

It’s when you are at the end of your rope that you are finally at the beginning of His strength. It is at the foot of the Cross, the ultimate place of your weakness and God’s power, where you will find the refreshing you need. If you’ve drifted from time in His presence, consider this a gentle invitation. He is calling you back into communion with Him. 

Immerse yourself in the Word of God. When our circumstances whisper that God is distant, unhearing, or indifferent, God reveals Himself in Scripture so that we can know the truth. His Word reminds us who He is when our feelings fail to.

You don't need to be an expert. You just need to be a child who trusts that their Father knows the way. Every task He asks of us that feels far beyond our ability presses us back into trust. We learn, again and again, that what God desires to accomplish will only be accomplished by God.